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J. MINTZ. TICKET ASSEMBLING APPARATUS- APPLICATION; man APR. 20. 1911.

1,309,044. Patent ed July 8, 19 9.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

INVENTOR JZZZIZUMW a WITNESSES.

W ArroR EY 1. MlNTZ. TICKET ASSEMBLING APPARATUS. APPLICAilON FILED APR-20. 191T- ;1,3o9,044. Patented July 8, 1919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

lNVEN TOR wn'nasss v ATTORNEY THE COLUMBIA PLANOORAPH C0 WASHINGTON, I: c.

Patented J 1y 8, 1919.

a SHEETS-SHEET s.

J. MINTZ. mKET ASSEMBLJNG APPARATUS. APPLlCATlON FILED APR. 20, 1911 INVENTOR ATTORNEY THILCOLUMBIA PLANOGRAPII c0., \Asflluflmu, D. c.

WITNESSES JULIUS MINTZ, onf'i rnw YORK, n.

TICKET-ASSEMBLING APPARATUS. I

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented J illys,

Application filed.Ap1'i1 20, 1917. serial No. 163,469;

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, J ULIUS MINTZ, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at 911 Longwood avenue, Bronx, 'in'the county of Bronx and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Ticket-Assembling Apparatus, ofwhich the following is a specification. I

This invention relates to deposit and col lection receptacles, and more especially to those intended for punching andcanceling tickets and the like; and the objects of the same are to produce an apparatus which will automatically extract a series of tickets,

coupons, or the like, from a card receptacle having pockets into which theyhave been slipped, and assemble or bunch the tickets so that they may be more readily handled; and also to provide the apparatus *with'means for perforating or cancelingthe tickets in the act of withdrawing them from the card and assembling them.

V A custom has grown up for payingpiecework employees by cashing tickets'turned in. by them, each ticket having-been awarded in consideration of apiece of work done. These tickets, sometimes in coupon form, are given to the workman with the piece of work, and a card receptacle has been de vised and patented having pockets into which he inserts the tickets as the'finished work is turned in. This receptacle has pages or stifi leaves, each, provided with pockets in fiverows of five each, or twenty-five pockets to the page; and piece-work prices are paid at so much per page. For instance, if a piece of work be worth two cents, the employee is given a yellow ticket or coupon with each piece,'.and when hefinishes the work and turns it inhe sticks the ticket into one of the pockets of the receptacle. When all of the twenty-five pockets have been filled, he may turn in the page or card and the cashier multiplying the niim'ber'of pockets by the value of the tickets pays the workman fifty cents and retains the tickets as his voucher.

The purpose of. the present invention is to produce a machine whereby the twentyfive'tickets in the example may be mcchanically withdrawn from the pocketsand assembled orbunched so that the cashier may put the bunch of tickets in a receptacle such as an envelop or may tie them up into a bundlein either case having a voucher for thepayment he has made. Lest the'tickets v ings wherein zidea;

pockets of one row height be used a second time, .a. feature of .my. .inyention is the canceling the tickets as they are withdrawn provision of means for from the cardapockets, and of course can- --celed tickets may notbe'used a second time.

With this-general explanation of-t'the conditions leading up to the desirability of a device of this kind, I proceed to a des-cription of its construction and operation,-referthe accompanying draw.- I

ence being :had to Figure 1 is a front elevation, partly in section, showing this apparatus ready for use. I

Fig, 2 is a leftend elevatiomits upper portion-in. section on the line 2+2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3*1s'an enlarged sectional detail of :one of the p-unchers.

Fig. 4 isa slight inodification. Fig. 5 is aside elevation, and Fig-s'.- 6 and thereof, showing an amplificationof the strippers.

The receptacle referred to above is a card designated in Fig. 1 by the letter'C and having the rows-of five pOcketseach designated by the letter-P, and into these pockets are stuck the lower ends of coupons or tickets T whose low'er portions' L are held by the pockets closely and whose upper portions rise out of the and overlap the pockets of the row above slightly'all' as will be clear from Fig. 1 if we remember'that we have a section of the card receptacle laid on its back'and are lookingat an upright row of the tickets T therein.

In-the drawings the numeral idesignates a rectan'gular casing or frame whose open upper end may-be, flanged or 2 to permit the edges; of the oard'C to rest thereon, excepting that I would 7 omit the rab'bet from'the front wall 3f as' seen in Fig.

2. This frameis a little longerthan the length of the card as seen in Fig. 1' and is" a little narrower'than the width of the card as seen in Fig. 2,and therefore when the card is laid on its back therear rabbet and its upper end-on the lefthandrabbet, its front edge overlaps the front wall .as seen in 2 and its lower edge does not reach completely to the right hand rab'bet as seen in Fig. 1. All th-is has with its edge on a purpose as will' b'e explained. The bottom v of the casing connects with a hopper 4 whose and *Fig. 8 is' a detail illustrating'the -7 are sections on the lines 76-6 and -77 against the face of the cardrabbeted as at walls converge downward to a chute or mouth 5 capable of being closed or opened by a slide or valve 6, and below the latter the front or possibly one side of the chute is cut away as at 7 so that the operator may put his hand into the same for packing accumulated tickets down into the mouth of a bag or other receptacle It as indicated in Fig. 1. This receptacle may rest on a base 8 such as a table top, and from the base suitable supports 9 may rise to the hopper so that the chute 5 will stand elevated from the base a sufficient distanceto permit the insertion and removal of the receptacle whatever the character of the latter.

Secured at 13 to the rear wall of the casing is a comb-likestructure whose teeth or fingers 12 (here shown as five in number) lead forward over the open upper end of the casing and are preferably sharpened at their front ends asat 11, thefingers being disposed in strict parallelism and spaced to correspond with the spacing of the tickets T i when mounted in the pockets P of a card C. The front ends llof the. fingers may overlie the front wall 3 as indicated in Fig. 2, but normally they stand a little above and out ofcontact with the same so that the card Cmay be slipped over this Wall and under the fingers. Disposed wholly above the comb is a plate 14: which may be entirely solid or might have slots or openings 15 as indicated in Fig. 1 but which are necessarily at other points than directly above the fingers, and from each end of this plate depends a plunger 16 passing downward throughupright tubular guides 17 disposed in pairs on the ends of the casing. Between the guides of each pair the plunger has a pin 18 supported by a coiled expansive spring 19 which rests on the lower guide and holds the pin normallyin contact with the upper guide and therefore holds the entire plate normally elevated as shown. This means for holding the plate normally raised is illustrative only, and other means might be employed. The lower ends of the plungers are pivotally connected in any suitable mannerat the point 20 with levers 21 fulcrumed as at 22 in supports orbrackets 23 on the casing and leading thence forward past the pivots 20 to the front of the apparatus. Here they may have individual handles 24, or they may be connected by a cross bar 25 having its own handle 26, or, in fact, both handles may be employed. This detailed construction of the operating mechanism is also illustrative, and mightbe replaced by another; but the idea obviously is that when the cross bar or any handle is depressed, the plungers are moved downward through their guides and the entire plate is depressed for a purpose yet to appear, whereas at other times the springs hold the plate elevated or inactive.

.mal position as seen in Flg.

time all workmen bring these cards For canceling the tickets and mutilating or punching them, the plate 14: carries a series of pins 30 which in the illustration will be disposed in five rows and with five in each row, the rows spaced to correspond with the spacing of the fingers and checked in the opposite direction to correspond with the spacing of the pockets P in the card C. As seen in Fig. 3, each pin has at its lower end an enlarged head 31 whose lower face is pointed as at 32, and directly beneath the point the finger 12 has a socket 33 in the illustration given. It is quite conceivable that the point could be of other shape and the socket continued into an opening, and it is even possible that these might be the male and female elements of a die so that when the head was projected completely through v a hole instead of a socket, the ticket would be punched. However, the idea is that in some manner the ticket willbe canceled as by, mutilation, punching, printing or otherwise indenting it at this point. As it is possible that the pin may pick up the ticket in theupward movement after it has been mutilated, I provide a stripper as best seen in Figs. 1 and 3. This is composed of a series of strips 34., each overlying and paralleling one of the fingers 12, and each strip has through it five holes 35 loosely embracing the five pins 30, the holes being counterboredor enlarged at their low-er ends at 36 to produce sockets'of sufficient size to loosely receive the heads 31 and to wholly inclose their points when the stripper stands in nor- 3. It is obvious now that when the point is brought down onto the ticket and embedded therein, the stripper will rise slightly, and when the pin is-again elevated so that its tip rises out of the socket 33 the stripper will push the ticket off the point in case ithas become .stuck thereon. For assisting it in this action I may provide springs 37 around the pins between the plate 14: and the stripper 34.

- The operation of this device will be as follows: The workman accumulates his tickets in the pockets P of a card C until they are all filled, and it may be well to establish a rule that all tickets of one valua tion (probably of one color) must be placed in the pockets of one card. At an appointed to the cashiervand the latter, instead .of removing the tickets by hand and counting them one by one, employs this apparatus for mechanically removing the tickets from a card, canceling them, and assembling or bunching ,them as first suggested above. Placing the rear edge of a card on the front wall 3 of the casing and with its upper end in the left hand rabbet 2 as seen in Fig. 1, he pushes the card slowly backward with the result that the sharpened front ends 11 of all the fingers 12 pass under the free ends of the slightly.

several rows of tickets T and raise them slightly from the card until the parts assume the position shown in Fig. 1. The lower ends L of all tickets still rest in the pockets P of the card, and thenfar edge of the latter at last comes to rest in the rear rabbet 2 of the casing 1 as seen in Fig. 2 with its front edge projecting slightly over the front wall 3* and possibly held in the hand of the operator. Now he depresses the cross-bar 25 or one of the handles thereon, and the plungers 16 cause the downward movement of the top plate 14:and'all the punches. The points 32 of the latter strike upon the projecting upper ends of the tickets and indent them into the-sockets 33, or possibly they are pushed completely through the fingers 12 if holes instead of sockets are used; in any event each ticket is mutilated and thereby canceled by this movement, and meanwhilethe,stripper rises It is possible, and Vin-fact it is quite probable, that this depression of the canceling mechanism will depress the front ends of the fingers slightly, but if theyoverlie the front wall 3 they will be supported thereby. The operator now moves the card to the right as seen in Fig. 1, possibly letting up a little on the pressure on the crossbar and therefore permitting the spring fingers to rise slightly out of engaging contact with the cards and such movement of the latter withdraws the pockets P from the lower ends of the several tickets while the tickets are meanwhile held at their upper ends where they are clamped between the points'32 and the sockets 33. The operator now draws the card C slowly toward him while its lower end rests in the right hand rabbet in Fig. 1, with the result that the card is drawn entirelyout of the apparatus and the tickets areleft therein, each being clamped between a finger and the superimposed stripper and held against rotation by the spring 37 bearing the stripper downward. It is also held against rotation by the indentation made into the ticket by the cancellation point 32 and the socket 33. \Vhen the card is entirely out of the apparatus,.each ticket at its lower end which formerly rested within apocket P will underlie the finger next adjacent that upon which it is clamped, excepting that the right hand ticket in Fig. 1 will be clamped at its left end and its right end will be entirely free. Thereafter when pressure on the cross bar is relieved and the plate andstripper rise to their inactive positions, all tickets will drop by gravity through the slots between the fingers, through the, casing 1, down through the hopper 4, and be collected or assembled within the chute 5 wherein they remain until the slide valve 6 is withdrawn, when they fall into the receptacle R.

The'latter may be used or not, and if not claims.

the card shown in Fig. l

the operator may put his hand under the lower end'of the chute and gather the bunch of tickets, all of which are canceled, and may count them and tie a string or place a rubber around them.

Attention is now invited to Fig. 4 wherein I have shown a slightly different 'form of point 32 and socket 33 from that illustrated in Fig. 3. Herein the canceler hasa plurality of points 310 and the female member of the die is formed to correspond as indicated at 320, and it is quite conceivable that these points could be very fine so as to be almost in the shape of needles, and that they could be arranged to perforate the tickets with a little word or abbreviation such as Pd. In any event, if the canceler'is other than a cone as shown at 32 in Fig.1 and the female dieis shaped to correspond, there ilege of making this change or others which come within the scope of the appended The essential idea is that the canceling or mutilating mech anism shall be such that it will both reliably cancel the ticket and hold it while the card is being withdrawn transversely. Any kind of a mutilating point will hold the ticket while the card is being withdrawn longitudinally, so that the lower endL of the ticket pulls out of the pocket, but after the card is entirely removed it is essential that a considerable ,portlon of the ticket shall stand in the space between two fingers and underlie the next adjacent finger, so that when the plate and str1p-pers are raised the tickets will drop by gravity as described above.

In some constructions of the card receptacle C, there are pockets P on both faces of each card; but it is quite clear that if had another series of pockets and another set of tickets on its "under side, these would not be affected by the operationof withdrawing the tickets from its upper side. After this has been accomplished the card could be reversed and inserted a second time and the second group of tickets would be canceled andwithdrawn like the first, although of course it would be necessary that the pockets be disposed in like rows and in identical spacing in both rows so that the canceling pins or punches and the several fingers would operate successfully, whichever side upthe card was placed. I have spoken throughout this specification and will speak in the claims of ticketsflbut it is clear that these might be coupons and as such they might be of paper stock rather than card: however the apparatus is capable of operating on ele- Such rotation ments T which are of paper and not so stiff as cards, as their stilfness'is not essential to its success. In busy factories where it is not always desirable to reverse the card and insert it a second time to withdraw a second group of tickets, I may employ that type of my structure illustrated on Sheet 3 of the drawings, and wherein the tickets on both sides of the card are simultaneously canceled and simultaneously withdrawn by one action. hen this type of machine is employed, if a card should be presented which has only one group of tickets, the punches at one side of the machine will act on that group while of course the punches at the other side do nothing; and therefore what mightbe called the double type of my machine is capable of operating on either a single or a double card, whereas the single type of the machine can operate only on a single card. In many respects this double type of the machine follows closely the-con struction of the one described above; but in one essential it is quite different. Details will be set forth below.

Mounted on supports 9 is a casing l having at its lower end a'hopper e'l whose walls converge toward a mouth or chute 5, and in plan view this casing is U-shaped as seen in Fig. 7 one wall being closed at the edge. of the casing as at 2 and the other edge being open as at 7. The card'C shown herein has two sets of pockets P and tickets T are inserted in these pockets as described above, differing only in that there are two sets or groups of tickets, one on each side of the card. The essential feature of difference between this type of my'invention and that already described is that the plates l l above are replaced in the present case by the side walls of the casing which I call plates 14 and, while the fingers above were stationary and the plates moved toward them, the plates in the present instance are stationary and the fingers move. There are here duplicate comb-like structures whereof each comprises a back 13 and five fingers 12 having reduced tips 11, and cavities 36 are formed in the outer faces of the fingers;

.and the canceling pins or points 30 are carried by the plates 14: as best seen 'in Fig. 6. To the back of the comb is connected a pair of plungers 16 passing through holes 17 in the side walls or plates 1 1 of the casing and having transverse pins 18 through their outer ends. Levers 21" rise from a rock shaft 25 and have slots 20 in their outer bifurcated ends loosely engaging said pins 18. The rock shaft has a lever 24 connected by links or other elements 23 with a treadle mechanism 26 in the present case which takes the place of the main handle 26. The actuating mechanism for moving the combs is only illustrative, and I reserve the right to use other means if thought advisable. In Fig, 8 is shown how strippers 34; might be employed, inclosing the pins 30 and advanced by springs 37 precisely as above described and therefore needing no ampler description.

The operation of this type of my device will be as follows: When a double card with its fifty tickets is brought to the cashier, he turns it with one edge upward and passes the other edge downward into the open upper end of the casing 1 while the upper end of the card is held close against the closed end 2' of the casing as seen at the top of Fig. 5. This causes the free ends of all the tickets T to pass over the tips 11 of the two sets of fingers 12, while the card C moves down between their bodies as seen in Fig. 6. Now he depresses the treadle 26 (or actuates the other operating mechanism, whatever its type), with the result that the rock shafts 25 move in unison in their bearings 22 and the several levers 21'.

draw outward on the plungers 16 against the tension of their springs 19, so that the backs 13 of the combs and all of the fingers thereof are moved outward or away from the interposed card. The result is that the fingers press the tickets onto the perforating or punching points 30 and mutilate or cancel them. Now, yet holding the actw ating mechanism under some tension, he draws the card laterally out of the casing by moving it to the right as seen in Fig. 5, with the result that all the tickets are drawn from the pockets P as above; and then when the actuating mechanism is released, the tickets are free to fall through the hopper 4: and mouth 5 and into a suitable receptacle if one be provided. WVithout further description it is obvious that if the strippers 34 are employed as seen in Fig. 8, there is no danger that any of the tickets will be caught on the pins or points 30 and hang there undesirably. It is also obvious that special forms of punching points might be used as shown in Fig. 4, and in this case possibly one set of points could be employed on one side plate 14: and another set or another type on the other plate so that the card might contain a series of one kind of tickets T on one face and another series of another kind on the opposite face: however, these are details which may benefit the user.

WVhat is claimed as new is 1. An apparatus of the class described comprising an open topped casing, a plurality of fingers projecting across the open top thereof a movable element overlying said fingers and standing normally above them, and means for depressing said element.

2. An apparatus of the class described comprising a receptacle, a slideway within said receptacle adapted to receive and hold a ticket card, fingers arranged in proximity to said slideway-and disposed to pass between the card and tickets carriedthereby and stripping means adapted to cooperate with said fingers-to strip off said tickets.

3. An apparatus of the class described comprising a container, a slideway atthe open end of said container adapted to re-- celve a tlcket holding card, fingers extending across the top of-said container and adapted topass between the tickets and the card a plate disposed normally above said fingers, penetrating members carried by saidplate and cooperating with said fingers for mutilating a ticket disposed therebetween and means for depressing said plate.

4. A device of the character described comprising an open topped receptacle, a slideway at the open top thereof and adapted to support a ticket holding card, a plurality of fingers extending across said top and adapted to pass between the card and the tickets held thereby, stripper members extending above said fingers, a plate disposed above said stripper members, penetrating members carried by said plate and operable throughsaid stripper members to cooperate with said fingers for mutilating a ticket between the fingers and the stripper members, and means for moving said plate.

5. An apparatus of the class described comprising an open topped receptacle, a comb-like structure secured to the rear wall thereof and having fingers projecting forwardly across its open top, a slideway in said open top adapted to support a ticket holding card, a plate extending across said fingers springs holding said plate normally elevated, penetrating members depending from said plate and cooperating with said gers, and stripper members having movement relative to said plate and receiving said penetrating members.

6. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination with a box-like casing, a comb-like structure carried by its rear wall and having fingers projecting forwardly across its open mouth, a top plate normally elevated above said comb-fingers, and manually operable means for bringing it down onto them and raising it when desired; 01. a hopper connected with the bottom of said casing and whose side walls converge to a chute at its lower end, and means for delivering articles through the chute when desired.

7. An apparatus of the class described comprising a casing having an open portion, a plurality of fingers projecting across said open portion, a movable element disposed in proximity to said fingers, mutilating members carried by said movable element, and means for moving said element.

8. An apparatus of the class described comprising a receptacle, a slideway within said receptacle adapted to receive and hold a ticket card, fingers arranged in proximity to said slideway and tween the card and tickets carried thereby, and perforating means with said fingers for mutilating said tickets.

9. An apparatus of the class described comprising a receptacle, a slideway Within said receptacle adapted to receive and hold a ticket card, fingers arranged in proximity to said slideway and disposed to pass between thecard and tickets carried thereby, stripping means adapted to cooperate with said fingers-to strip off said tickets, and means associated with said stripping means for mutilating-said tickets.

'10. An apparatus of the class described, comprising a receptacle, a slideway within said receptacle adapted to receive and hold a ticket card, fingers arranged in proximity to said slideway and disposed to pass between the card and tickets carried thereby, a bar disposed normally spaced from said fingers, penetrating members carried by said bar and cooperating with said fingers for mutilating a ticket disposed therebetween, and means for depressing said bar.

11. An apparatus of the class described comprising a casing having an open portion, a plurality of fingers projecting across said casing, a movable element adjacent said fingers, and means for moving said element toward and from said fingers.

12. An apparatus of the class described comprising a casing, a support, a plurality of fingers projecting across said casing adjacent said support, a movable element adjacent said fingers and movable into engagement therewith.

13. An apparatus of the class described comprising a casing, a support adapted to receive and hold a ticket holding card, and means within said receptacle movable into penetrating engagement with tickets disposed on said card.

14. An apparatus of the class described comprising a receptacle, a support within said receptacle adapted to, receive and hold a ticket holding card, penetrating members movable into engagement with tickets on said card, and means for stripping the tickets from said penetrating members.

15. An apparatus of the class described comprising a casing, a support within said casing adapted to receive a ticket holding card, and automatically cooperating mutilating and stripping means movable to engage tickets on said card and each other respectively.

16. An apparatus of the class described comprising a casing adapted to receive a ticket holding card, and means movable for mutilating tickets held by said card and stripping said tickets from the card.

17. An apparatus of the class described comprising a casing adapted to receive a disposed to pass be-- adapted to cooperate ticket holding card, and means movable into engagement with tickets held by the card, whereby said tickets may be stripped. from the card.

18. An apparatus of the class described comprising a casing adapted to receive a ticket holding card, means for stripping the tickets from the card and means for collecting said tickets.

19. An apparatus of the class described comprising a casing, a support associated with sald casing and adapted to receive a ticket holding card, members movable into Copies of this patent may be engagement with the tickets held by the card whereby the tickets may be stripped from the card, and a receptacle associated with said casing below saidsupport whereby said tickets may be collected. 7

20. An apparatus of the class described comprising a'support adapted to receive a ticket holding card, means for mutilating':

tickets held by said card, means for stripping said tickets' from said card and means for collecting said tickets.

In testimony whereof I aifix my signature.

JULIUS MINTZ.

obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Eatents,

Washington, D. C. 

